The arrival of the Women’s Premier League in 2023 and a title win in the Women’s ODI World Cup has produced an “unstoppable force” in Indian cricket which will increase the depth, former England skipper said Nasser Hussain on Thursday. India clinched their maiden ICC title late in 2025 winning the Women’s ODI World Cup and a significant amount of credit for the team’s success was given to the T20 competition which brought about tectonic changes in women’s cricket in India. Hussain believes the combination of the two has already become unstoppable and Indian cricket stands to benefit in the longer run.
“It’s unstoppable now in the women’s, that combination of the WPL and the 50-overs World Cup win and the scenes at the end of that, now it’s an unstoppable force in Indian cricket and there will be more depth to the players coming through,” Hussain told reporters on JioStar Media Day.
“The biggest thing for me is depth. We’re trying to work out (the best combination) in that squad now, and obviously they’re missing two (players) as well because of injuries. Two very good players, Amanjot (Kaur) in particular,” he said.
Hussain said Indian Women’s team was reliant on a few players in the past but the recent years have seen the team’s superstars coming under pressure with others knocking on the door.
“The depth to Indian cricket may be before WPL — you go back to the World Cup final in 2017 — they relied heavily on three or four players before that, the great Mithali Raj, etc. They were lone warriors for them. Then it went to three or four (players).” “Now you’re looking at — and that’s good for Indian cricket because it means that your superstars in the team constantly have to perform because — as in the men’s, I hate going to the men’s because we’re talking women’s, but (a Vaibhav) Sooryavanshi comes along and those that (have) got places, someone has to be left out,” he added.
Hussain also pointed out that increasing financial opportunities in the game will produce more cricketers, as seen in the IPL.
“I hear rumours of parents now wanting their daughters to play more and more cricket because of the financial inducements in cricket and WPL and Big Bash and The Hundred,” he said.
“Some of The Hundred contracts we’ve seen just recently, it’s been life-changing money. It really has; Danny Gibson, Tilly Corteen-Coleman, have had life-changing contracts. It now has become a job and I don’t mean that in a negative way.” “I said the other day that winning the World Cup for England, that was cool. I took my daughter’s side to that final. They beat India in 2017 and a lot of those girls left and thought, ‘oh, cricket’s really cool’. But cool doesn’t pay the mortgage.” “You need a job, a contract. You need finances and now the finances in the game, like in the men’s IPL, that means people from places in the past that haven’t produced cricketers.
“We’ve seen it in men’s Indian cricket, it (the talent) used to come from Bombay or Delhi or whatever. Now it is coming from places and that’s the same thing that will happen in the women’s.” Hussain said while it will be imperative to keep an eye on the dot-ball percentage, having six-hitting ability is non negotiable.
“The women’s game has changed from a touch game. You think of Meg Lanning, a wonderful touch player who stroked the ball to the boundary. One of the greatest I have ever seen. And now you see the power hitters that are around. They just clear the rope. They back themselves to hit sixes,” he said.
“Whichever team hits the most sixes will probably win the tournament. But also, I do always keep (an eye) on our monitor in the commentary box a dot ball percentage. There is no point having five dots and then a six,” he said.
Catch all the action from ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026, June 12-July 5, LIVE on JioHotstar and Star Sports Network. PTI DDV APS APS
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